World City Magazine and the E-Commerce Boom

This past Oct 25, I was invited by my good buddy, Ian McCluskey, Publisher of World City Magazine worldcityweb.com for a panel on the E-commerce Boom, an update from the frontier of the Google Economy. I had meet with him early to discuss ways to incorporate video into corporate web sites and giving CEOs a new and exciting format to share their vision.

During my days at Motorola as a PR executive, we would always be looking for ways to show the good news in out of the box markets like the Internet. Well that was many years ago and now the Internet is on Fire. This year, US E-Commerce sales are predicted to top $100 Billion. Not a bad rebound from the dot com bust.

The World City panel had 3 very impressive speakers, Jaime Basagoitia, General Manager of Trans Express, http://www.transexpress.com. Say you live in India and need to have a US address so you can get your new computer, Sony says it doesn’t ship to India, well now you found Trans Express. What is amazing is Trans Express has over 150, 000 registered customers in over 30 countries worldwide and ships in excess of US$ 40,000,000 worth of consumer goods per year out of its Miami hub. A good example of a brick-and-mortar freight forwarding company moving into the e-commerce intensive shipping mode.

Another example of a great idea is SAFE- T-PAY, a secure payment system that allows non-credit card users and overseas shoppers to make online purchases directly through their local bank. Manuel Montero, CEO of SAFE- T-PAY and former executive of American Express has seen explosive growth as the credit card industry is basically a shared monopoly. When I was in Colombia I would never give my credit information to no one. Imagine about 3 different people from banking institutions, middle man and merchants get your card number and personal information….hackers and fraud experts love this.

SAFE-T-PAY offers shoppers a solution – local payment in local currency through a known and trusted financial institution without the need for a credit card. Sign me up. Launched in Peru, with Mexico and US online, I think this is a company to watch.

The last speaker was Jeff Leidowitz, CEO of the Laredo Group, http://www.laredogroup.com a training and consulting firm dedicated to helping clients increase sales and decrease costs through knowledge and efficiencies related to online advertising buying and selling, search engine marketing and site optimization.

Jeff selected as one of the Website 100 Most Influential People on the World Wide Web, former co-host of national syndicated radio talk show On Computers and online host of Cybermania, the annual awards show of the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences gave an energetic view of the online world. He mentioned that in 5 years most media will be downloaded. This was something I was very interested in as I am also a film producer and director. The big problem in independent film is distribution, not to mention trying to get investors to believe in your dream. I mentioned once at a Miami International Film Festival conference, that I would rather sell my film online than give it to a distribution company in Hollywood and pray that they pay me. One good press release in The Times of India and 300 million middle class Indians may by it online for $5.

Then you have the You Tube generation http://www.youtube.com and Google paying more than $1 Billion in stock for a great idea started by 2 geeks in a garage in the late 90s. Video online is the way to go and the possibilities are endless.

The future of the movie industry, online video, DVD and multi-media distribution is going to change and those who catch the wave will be in a new and exciting frontier.

E-Commerce is exploding and with the advent of video as a new marketing tool and value added presence for corporate PR, family run businesses, my space pages and blogs you will have a new way of getting your entertainment, news, catalogs and better options to pay for it, as well as shipping needs.

You will know where your consumers are, just see the new tricks Nokia and Motorola are planning. You visit your grocer and on your cell phone you hear a beep, act fast discount to buy a Coke. Nearly 102 million mobile phones were sold in Latin America in 2005 that is a lot of potential customers!

Phoenix, Arizona – October 26, 2006 – Online marketing and advertising firm, Leadpile.com‘s predictions last year, that overall e-commerce sales would likely surpass the $1 trillion mark by 2012, appears to be on track, as US e-commerce sales most likely will top $100 billion this year.

Andy Jacob, CEO of Leadpile.com commented, ”We are delighted that our pr ediction looks to be right on the money. For the remainder of 2006, we continue to hold steady on our forecast that $100 billion in US e-commerce sales will easily be reached. The US Department of Commerce has already reported 1st and 2nd quarters ’06 at a combined $51.5 billion in e-commerce retail sales. Not only do we believe that $100 billion is a done deal, but it is highly likely that 2006 US e-commerce sales will top $120 billion.”

Mr. Jacob continued, ”Everyone seems to be talking about ‘baby boomers.’ Leadpile believes that the recent focus on America’s aging population has blinded many experts from seeing the explosive growth that will come on the Web from the ‘next generation’ of younger, super-Internet consumers. These Super Kids in Digital Space, or ‘SKIDS,’ as coined by Leadpile in 2005, will lead to explosive growth on the Internet. Leadpile believes that the biggest impact on our world and our culture will come from the ‘SKIDS,’ who will help change the entire way we currently think about the Internet, wireless devices, and our future. With regard to US e-commerce, you haven’t seen anything yet.”